Booth twins reunited again at Manatee

The first time twins John and James Booth were split up as football players was during their senior year in 2004 at MidAmerica Nazarene.

Before that, they played together in Pop Warner with the Manatee Wildcats, at Manatee High and the first three years at the NAIA school.

The Booth Twins James, left, and John have been hired to run the Manatee High football program. John is the head coach and James will be his offensive coordinator. STAFF PHOTO / DENNIS MAFFEZZOLI

John then went on to play on the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad while James redshirted and played another year for the Pioneers in Olathe, Kansas.

The big split though came when John, a quarterback-turned-receiver, went to NFL Europe to play with the Amsterdam Admirals.

James, a wide receiver, went on to coach three years under Raymond Woodie at Palmetto High. But when Woodie went to Western Kentucky University, James was reunited with John, who took the head coaching job at Valrico Bloomingdale in 2009.

Now, they are at their alma mater at Manatee High.

Both 32-year-olds were introduced at a gathering Monday at the Hurricanes gymnasium. John was named the head coach last Tuesday and James joined him as the team’s offensive coordinator.

“It’s really nice because we’ve been able to build our offenses from experiences that we’ve shared together,” John said. “When we’re coaching, I know what he’s thinking and he knows what I’m thinking. We can communicate very efficiently with each other. He shares the same philosophy as I do: what we want offensively, how we want to move the ball.”

John Booth speaks after he was introduced as head coach of the Manatee High football team Monday at the school's Performing Arts Center in Bradenton. STAFF PHOTO / DENNIS MAFFEZZOLI

In a sense, both Booths are taking over for former coach Joe Kinnan, who requested a medical leave of absence from the Manatee County School District for the 2014-15 school year. John replaces Kinnan as the head coach; James takes over for Kinnan as offensive coordinator.

“I don’t know if there’s pressure,” James said. “I don’t feel the pressure to be as successful. I coach to win. I coach to be successful. So I have pressure on myself, whether I’m at Bloomingdale or Manatee.

“I want our guys to be successful. I want our guys to score points. I have pressure on myself to do well. I know what Manatee is. I know what they are about and what they’ve been. They are a powerhouse.”

The Booths, who had won every place they had played, went 0-10 the first year with the Bulls.

“The difficult thing was changing the culture,” said James, who was John’s offensive coordinator. “They had so much turnover with the head coaches, so there was no identity.”

But this past season, Bloomingdale had its first winning season since the Booths took over.

“We had to get them to buy in on what we wanted to do and how to get it done,” James said. “That was the biggest difficulty or hurdle to climb.

“Consistency within the coaches was a big thing for us. Once they saw we were committed to them, they were committed to us. Once they saw a little bit of success, they saw it does work and you can be successful.”

The Bulls ran a read spread offense and had success running and throwing at different times. John Crouse, a 6-foot-6 quarterback passed for 1,354 yards and 14 TDs with eight interceptions during his senior season.

Running back Eugene Baker gained 1,240 yards as a junior and 791 with 10 touchdowns as a senior, earning a scholarship to Division 1-AA Nebraska-Kearney.

“With the spread zone we had the ability to do both, if necessary,” James said.

“We’ve been able to take our offense from Bloomingdale, where we were predominately bottom three in the county offensively, we were up in the top 12 this past season,” John said. “A big reason why was because of him.”

During the interview process, John was asked if their coaching style would fit the caliber of athletes at Manatee.

“That’s the great thing he brings to an offense,” John said of James. “It’s not ‘This is my way, and this is how we are going to do it.’ He’s going to build around the tools we have.

“If we don’t have the kids to do what we do, then we’ll adjust our stuff to what we have. He does the best thing to utilize the talent we do have.”

At Manatee, the athletes, especially at the skill positions, will be at a higher level than at Bloomingdale.

“They’re extremely athletic, very fast,” James said. “The first thing I noticed talking with them is they are football smart. The coaches there have done a great job of teaching them the game of football.

“They understand spacing and how to do stuff. Once the ball is in their hand, the athleticism takes over. The mental side of the game is easily identifiable.”

James wants to meet with Manatee’s holdover coaches from the previous regime and then begin installing his offensive scheme.

“There are some similarities with how we run things,” he said. “The terminology is a little different. It’s getting the coaches feeling comfortable to teach it. It’s not mind-blowing stuff.

“We spent the last couple of days going over how we want to run it, how we want to block it. Some of the stuff they have from a blocking standpoint, we’re going to use, because it’s sound and it works. We don’t need to change it.”

Integrating the players into the new scheme begins this week. Manatee normally throws 7v7 with itself Mondays and Wednesdays, a schedule the Booths are not going to break.

“We’ll do install stuff Tuesdays and Thursdays,” James said. “Whether it’s chalk talk stuff, or going on the field and walking through it could vary by position group. We’ve got to get the receivers caught up on the intricacies of how we run our routes and the formations.

“The diversity within our offense blends really well with the skill guys and athletes we have. We’re a read team. We’re going to put the defense in a position where they can’t be right no matter how they line up.

“If we can get our kids coached up, especially from the quarterback position, to make the right reads and get the ball to who it needs to go to, we’re going to have success.”

After going with Kavious Price, normally a wide receiver, at quarterback in the spring classic against Haines City, quarterback Sloan Drummonds transferred from Sebastian River for his senior season.

“He wasn’t too familiar with the previous offense, so he doesn’t have to unlearn too much,” James said of Drummonds.

John Booth plans to coach the quarterbacks.

“He does a great job with it,” James said of John. “He’s big on footwork. He’s big on accuracy. He’s big on timing. Those are all things we have to be good at at that position.”

James Booth expects everything to be in place Aug. 29, when Manatee heads to Martin Stadium in Valdosta, Georgia, to take on Ware County (Ga.) for the season opener.

“I don’t see a problem installing the offense,” James said. “I don’t see a problem with it executing from Day 1.”

While John has and continues to be the head coach with James as his right-hand man on offense, the experience has been rewarding.

“It’s been fun,” John said. “He’s a great coach, works well with the kids and is a great teacher. I’m confident he’ll do great here.”

Dennis Maffezzoli

Dennis Maffezzoli is the chief reporter for HT Preps. He can be reached by email or call (941) 315-0598.

Last modified: July 7, 2014
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